Before Everything Changed
by sportsmaniac
Summary: What was Bobby's life like before he was whisked of to the flume by his Uncle Press? Mostly canon, not so much near the end. Some romance, but its not a comeplete romance story. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Before Everything Changed

**Okay, so, as you might have guessed from the title, this is about Bobby and his life before all "the Traveler biz." I was really surprised to learn that there was none of them on the site, so I figured I'd make one up for myself. I would appreciate feedback, but it's not as important to me as some other stories I might write because this I mostly for myself.**

**Bobby POV**

I coolly walked up to her, looked deep into those depthless gray eyes, and asked her out. Or, at least, I did in my fantasies.

You see, I'm a sports star. I've got friends. I crack jokes. I even do pretty well in school. (my lowest being an A-, thank you for asking.) But what I _can't _do is work up the courage to ASK COURTNEY CHETWYDNE OUT ALREADY! She's got the whole package goin' on, with the silky brown hair, astonishing good looks, and butt-kicking sports ability. And I like her. But I'm a wuss in the land of romance.

"Dude! You playin' or what?" My friend Josh asked me. "The 7th grade team HAS to beat Crowley this year! We just have to!"

"Oh, I don't think Pendragon has the courage. It's alright, Bobby, I'll understand if you have to go home. I am better, anyways. You'd be doing yourself a favor," Chetwydne called out jokingly.

I laughed and looked right at her. "You wish."

"Oh, I think I'll be saving my wishes for something harder." And with that move, we started to play.

Ganger (P.E. Teacher) tossed up the ball. I bunched my leg muscles, threw myself up in the air, and just managed to curve my fingertips around the ball so I could tip it toward Jimmy Hirsch, my strongest forward. I threw a victory look at Courtney before bounding down the court, always keeping my eyes on the ball, my hands open and my sights never to far from. Courtney, who I was guarding, just in case the ball suddenly switched hands.

The second Jimmy crossed the free-throw line, he was mobbed by a hoard of sweaty boys grabbing for the ball. He looked for an outlet, but there was none to be seen. There was no way for the ball to get out.

Almost lazily, I set a pick on him, then rebounded off the same guy the second Jimmy rolled off me, my hands already open for the pass sure to come. Right on time, I felt the smooth leather slide into my hand as I dribbled up toward the basket and executed a perfect backwards lay-up, complete with that little satisfactory swooshing sound as the ball fell through the net yet again.

"Now, now, Courtney," I said teasingly, "this is only a taste of what is about to come. Don't you have the sense to just save yourself the embarrassment and give up already?"

Her mouth was set in a grim line as she mumbled "just gimme the ball." I grinned. She really _hated _losing.

"Whatever you say…"

Her check was lightning-fast and I _almost _didn't have time to catch it. Almost.

"Nice try, Chetwydne," I said, as a shot the ball back. "But basketball's _my _sport."

She started off with a pass to her left flank, Mark, (no, not my buddy) then did a double juke step and bolted down the field. I wasn't expecting that, and I tumbled and fell over. After muttering a quick curse, I straightened out and sprinted after her. She had the ball back by now, and I made a flying stuff just as she shot a perfect three-pointer. However, she caught the wide rebound and dribbled in for a lay-up. You gotta applaud her on that one. But I'll get her net time.

The game continued like that for a while, me gaining a couple of points, but then she would bounce back light lightning, gaining her points back. Coach finally called the whistle a few minutes before the game ended. Final score? 33-34, me. Take _that, _Chetwydne!

Her shoulders were tense for a minute, but then relaxed as she remembered something.

"I look forward to volleyball next week!" She called out to me with a knowing smile.

The smug grin dropped of my face. Courtney _dominates _at volleyball. Oh, well. I won today.

**Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, really short. But just try to let me know what you think and I'll update soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I looked over my story, and saw that I made a couple of errors. However, you should have gotten the general gist of it. Remember, you don't have to review, but I would appreciate some feedback to see how the story's doing. I'll try to make it longer this time!**

**Bobby POV**

My shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor as I walked with Courtney toward our lockers at the end of the day. Hey, just because we were sports rivals didn't mean we couldn't be friends.

"I failed. I failed. I _so _failed," I stammered to Courtney after _another_ geometry test that I obviously bombed. It goes without saying that geometry isn't my strongest subject.

"Well… you probably did. You usually do." She grinned. "But seriously, the test was really hard for everybody. He'll probably grade on a curve. And you couldn't have done THAT bad. Remember the last test you thought you failed that you actually got a B+ on? Think positive, Bobby!"

As usual, her words began to cheer me up immediately.

"You know what, you're probably right. Not about how I always fail"- I paused to throw an accusing look at Courtney- "but about everything else."

"Of course I am. I always am," she preened, trying out her 'snobbish English lady' expression.

"Oh, I don't know about that. Remember 'I'll understand if you have to have to go home, Bobby. I am better, anyways," I quoted from our earlier discussion in the gym. "And who won the basketball game?" I continued.

"Oh, I was going easy on you. I could kick your butt any day of the week," she scoffed.

"Sure…"

My skeptical look was cut short of its full potential as we reached my locker. I twisted the dial to my combination as Courtney started piling books into her bag. We both slammed our locker doors at the same time, our combined crashes making an unusually loud squeak in the now-almost- empty hallway.

"Well… I guess I'd better go get Mark. He's a good kid, but sometimes he loses track of time, eating carrots and all that stuff," I said reluctantly, not eager to leave her.

She laughed. "You do that."

I watched her retreating back down the corridor, then sighed and walked toward Mark's not-so-secret hiding place: the third floor boy's bathroom.

I frowned as I heard signs of struggling up ahead of me and picked up my pace.

Finally, as I rounded the corner, I felt the blood boil up in me as I took in the scene in front of me. Mark was being forced into a headlock by none other than Andy Mitchell, the bully of all bullies.

Bullies didn't scare me. They were cowards who picked on those weaker than them.

Unfortunately, Mark was weaker than Andy Mitchell. And Andy knew that.

I jogged up the last few steps, shoved my face forward, and spun the jerk around.

He froze.

"What the _hell _do you think you're doing? Huh? Just thought you'd drop in on Mark while no one was looking? Well, I'm gonna be keeping an eye on you. So GET OUT OF IT!

I shoved him and he shrank away quickly, keeping his eyes low.

"Thanks," said Mark, massaging his throat.

"Don't mention it. Man, I _hate _that kid."

"Tell me about it."

We walked, by unspoken agreement, toward my house. We had gone to his yesterday.

Just as we were about to enter the house, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, kid. How's it going? You and your friend up for a little adventure?"

"Uncle Press!" I hollered.

"No need to shout," said a voice behind me. "I'm right here."

I turned and hugged him.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a top secret mission for the FBI?

We have a long-running joke between us. I would fabricate a job for him every time we met, and he would play along with it.

"As a matter of fact, there's a criminal running loose around the country. But he's not very dangerous and I figured my partners could pick him up for me while I paid a visit to my favorite nephew."

"And?!"

He paused for a minute to build up the suspense.

"How do you feel about hang gliding?"

"No _way!_"

My favorite-and only- uncle grinned.

**Okay, so I didn't make it any longer. But I figured as long as I update quickly, it doesn't matter, right? Try to review and tell me what you think!**


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